Valentine Fun

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, I thought I would share five super simple ways to have fun with your kiddos – be they your children…or your grand!children:) It does not cost a lot of money or take tons of creativity (thank goodness!) to enjoy a “sweet” day with those little ones you love so much. All of these ideas, although not original, have been tried and tested at our house – and have made for great memories!

One – pink milk and sprinkles!! I mentioned this one in my daybook entry on Monday but I’ll mention it here again. A little food coloring in your breakfast milk – and it is a special day already!! And then add sprinkles – whether red or pink…hearts or dots..it doesn’t matter – and the day is over the top! My kiddos loved toaster strudels (read that LOVED toaster strudels) and adding the heart sprinkles was the best!!

This little bit of fun can be changed up a bit to help make St. Patrick’s Day fun (green, of course) or Easter (think yellow) or even the first day of spring (maybe baby blue)!!

Two – cardboard hearts:) As a teacher of twos and threes at church, I used to decorate our classroom for the holidays and always had a supply of wall decorations..typically found at a teacher’s store…the type of things used for bulletin boards. One year, I pulled out a pile of hearts, attached thread/ribbon to them, and hung them all from the kitchen ceiling. When the kids came down for breakfast the next morning, you would have thought they were in Disney. Who knew hearts hanging from the ceiling could make a day so much fun?!?!

I did that every year after that – just to maintain my awesome mommy status:)

Three – a heart cake! These are super easy but, just in case you aren’t sure…..mix up your favorite cake (if you use yellow…think about that food coloring!) and bake in one round and one square pan. When cooled, cut the round one in half. Turn the square one so it looks like a diamond and place a round half on each side at the top of the diamond – viola! it is a heart. Ice the entire thing and go crazy with those sprinkles!

Four – Eat a meal somewhere other than the kitchen table (or wherever your typical spot may be!) Around here, it is too cold in February to eat outside but dinner served picnic style in the family room could turn the most ordinary meal into a huge treat! And when the kiddos were older, eating in the dining room always signaled a special meal – that said I love you!

Our meals in the dining room are some of my fondest memories. I am glad we did not do them too often in order to keep those meals special – but I sure wish I had more of those great memories! Tyler especially loved planning and preparing for these meals – totally his thing!!

Five – fondue! This is another idea I stumbled upon quite by accident (somewhat like the kitchen heart streamers) but earned me just the same great mom status:) I came across a small pink fondue pot on a clearance rack on year and tucked it away “for a rainy day.” I actually remembered it on Valentine’s Day and served chocolate fondue that night after dinner. The kids thought we were eating like royalty! We had soo much fun that night!! and looked forward to our fondue every year after that – and I only use it on the 14th:)

I hope you have so fun ideas up your sleeve for Monday – and I would love to hear about them. I am working on my party – a bit more grown-up this year…..but I just might need to break out that fondue pot!!